Ringfort (Cashel), Mulderricksfield, Co. Limerick
Co. Limerick |
Ringforts
On a north-facing slope in County Limerick, a modest arc of collapsed dry-stone walling sits beneath a covering of sod and dense overgrowth, the last visible remnant of what was once a cashel.
A cashel is a type of ringfort built from stone rather than earth and timber, and for much of Irish prehistory and the early medieval period these circular enclosures served as farmsteads and homesteads for local families. This particular example in Mulderricksfield has been partially levelled over the centuries, and what the landscape gives back now is fragmentary: a low, spread arc of wall running roughly west to east, around 0.3 metres high and 4 metres wide, curving gently before disappearing back beneath the grass.
The enclosure was recorded on the 1923 Ordnance Survey six-inch map as a circular feature approximately 20 metres in diameter, which gives some sense of its original footprint, modest even by the standards of ringforts, which vary enormously in scale across Ireland. By the time Denis Power compiled the site record, uploaded in August 2011, the monument had already suffered significant loss. The southern field boundary, running east to west, appears to cut directly through the enclosure, suggesting that at some point the land was divided and managed without regard for what lay beneath the turf. That kind of truncation is common across Ireland, where ringforts have been quietly absorbed into field systems over generations of agricultural use.
The site sits within pasture, so access depends on the usual courtesies of farmland: permission from the landowner is advisable before approaching. The north-facing slope and the density of the overgrowth make the surviving arc easy to overlook, and without knowing what to look for, a visitor might walk past it entirely. The best approach is to look for the slightly raised, uneven ground at the southern end of a narrow field, where the wall arc, though low and turf-covered, still holds its curve. There is no formal access, no signage, and no cleared viewing area, which means the site rewards the kind of slow, attentive walking that most scheduled monuments in working farmland require.